The Story Behind Beyoncé’s 3 Epic Dubai Performance Looks

That Beyoncé chose to open the concert—her first in four years—wearing a Middle Eastern designer is no accident. The superstar is known to make her most meaningful fashion statements center stage, and last night she took the opportunity to shine the spotlight on regional talent. 

She invited her daughter Blue Ivy to perform with her for the first time with a duet of “Brown Skin Girl.” Dressed in a playful glittering red sequin jumpsuit designed by her grandmother Knowles-Lawson and Timothy White, Ivy showed no signs of stage fright, her adorable waist-length braids swinging as she danced in chunky platform sneakers. “Give it up for my baby, my brown skin girl, Miss Blue Ivy Carter,” Beyoncé said, introducing her 11 year old to the audience. The sweetly choreographed mother-daughter moment was easily the most touching of the night.

A third of the way through the 75-minute concert, Beyoncé made her first outfit change into a corseted flame-red bodysuit with a matching train and gloves by Nicolas Jebran. It’s not the first time they have worked together. The Lebanese designer—whose list of celebrity clients includes Jennifer Lopez, Gigi Hadid, and Cindy Crawford—first dressed the singer for the MTV Music Awards in 2014, then again for the Grammys in 2018. Jebran says the full-skirted silhouette was inspired by “royal attire”  with a nod to “Emirati women” and their love of “gold accessories and monochromatic color.” Fittingly, the costume came complete with a sunburst-style crown. 

Beyoncé changed tack for the finale by tapping the Ukrainian designer Ivan Frolov. Dressed in a powder pink minidress and leggings embroidered with crystals and galvanic fine gold, she glided off the stage and onto the hotel’s shell-shaped fountain belting out “Crazy in Love,” and “the outfit was created in our workshop in Kyiv, Ukraine, during war and massive blackouts,” says Frolov, who launched his eponymous brand in 2015 and continues to live and work in the Ukrainian capital despite the ongoing conflict. “It just goes to show that no matter what, Ukrainian brands continue to showcase the world their resistance and culture.”